Williams F1

[TheDeuce]

rdjohn said:

A third-hand report of a second-hand observation.

If it was a possibility, I think Stroll would have done it. The obstacles are probably all locked inside Frank’s head. Patrick Head could probably have turned the team around 20-years ago. But I doubt that he can now.

I'm a little sceptical of that story too. But I do think a sale will happen in the end, whether Frank wishes it or not.

[rdjohn]

A third-hand report of a second-hand observation.

If it was a possibility, I think Stroll would have done it. The obstacles are probably all locked inside Frank’s head. Patrick Head could probably have turned the team around 20-years ago. But I doubt that he can now.

[LivingTheDream]

tigerkoi said:

https://f1i.com/news/337613-is-billionaire-dmitry-...

Are they saying that someone called D Mazepin is going to make Williams quicker?

more sluggish I would imagine

[skwdenyer]

TheDeuce said:

So just to summarise all the Kubica comments...

It turns out everyone is in agreement that there is no outright evidence he is the slowest driver. I think that says a lot for the general maturity shown in this thread (which lets face it, is about the collapse of Williams) and I completely agree that there is no way of fairly comparing the two drivers.

The saddest thing of all? The cars they have are not just unsuitable for competitive racing in F1, they're so useless that they can't race one another and can't display any talent as they drive - both of them being told to nurse the car through each race...

Thank god Russell got the Mercedes drive and nailed it. His stock is rising. As for kubica.. honestly, who knows. For all we know he's the finest driver on the grid, but he has zero opportunity to demonstrate his talent. The first disabled driver to get the opportunity to re-enter F1, ironically has no sodding opportunity at all.

I know.. the dangers of buying a seat at the most desperate team... But I'm sure he didn't expect the car to be so bad that he had to spend a season not using kerbs in a car that has a known but not understood deficit to his team mate. I personally suspect he's not the quickest driver of the two, but I also see that he's been gifted an awful drive this season. Basically, a pointless car.

Mark Hughes has apparently reported that Russel had RK's floor in FP1 and FP2, and was slower. They swapped them back for FP3 & onwards, and GR was quicker. Make of that what you will.

[Deesee]

RK interview with F1.com

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.kubica-...

[Fortitude]

Delta Partners Time Out - interview with Claire Williams of ROKiT Williams Racing
Delta Partners - TMT Advisory and Investment
Published on Apr 3, 2019

Welcome to Time Out - a series of interviews with TMT industry leaders and CEOs about how their companies are shaping the future. In this edition, Delta Partners CEO Victor Font spoke with Claire Williams, the Deputy Team Principal of ROKiT Williams Racing, about engaging Formula 1 fans globally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgwJ_q_4Aec

Edited by Fortitude on Thursday 18th April 21:40

[TheDeuce]

Fortitude said:

Delta Partners Time Out - interview with Claire Williams of ROKiT Williams Racing
Delta Partners - TMT Advisory and Investment
Published on Apr 3, 2019

Welcome to Time Out - a series of interviews with TMT industry leaders and CEOs about how their companies are shaping the future. In this edition, Delta Partners CEO Victor Font spoke with Claire Williams, the Deputy Team Principal of ROKiT Williams Racing, about engaging Formula 1 fans globally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgwJ_q_4Aec

Edited by Fortitude on Thursday 18th April 21:40

I'm conflicted. One the one hand, she is endlessly honest about herself, but on the other hand, she's being honest about all the reasons she's wrong for the job in the first place. Whilst she's honest about herself, she appears to go off in flights of fantasy when she talks about her team.

Towards the end she says she hopes the second series of the Netflix documentary will show that they have made progress... Did she smoke something before this interview? TV shows can twist reality to an extent but it seems highly unlikely Netflix are going to fabricate progress when it's well documented that the exact opposite has happened.

As ever, I think she comes across very well as a person, she has her Dad's spirit. But as a TP or business woman? No. Several of the comments she made about business I found myself disagreeing with on a fairly fundamental level. At one point, she spoke about a £750k investment being needed to hopefully secure £20m of revenue from TV content. She said money was tight so it was a firm no. But that's simply not how business works - she's looking a 26 fold ROI, so if she believes the deal offered has at least a 1 in 20 chance of success, say yes!! You say yes to good odds by default, and eventually you win and the success of that one gamble runs for long enough to offset all the losses you made on the failed attempts. That's literally how investment works. Yet moments later, she was talking about a need at Williams to take a long term view with regard to investment.. She held her composure, and sounded professional - it just didn't make any sense.

[skwdenyer]

TheDeuce said:

Fortitude said:

Delta Partners Time Out - interview with Claire Williams of ROKiT Williams Racing
Delta Partners - TMT Advisory and Investment
Published on Apr 3, 2019

Welcome to Time Out - a series of interviews with TMT industry leaders and CEOs about how their companies are shaping the future. In this edition, Delta Partners CEO Victor Font spoke with Claire Williams, the Deputy Team Principal of ROKiT Williams Racing, about engaging Formula 1 fans globally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgwJ_q_4Aec

Edited by Fortitude on Thursday 18th April 21:40

I'm conflicted. One the one hand, she is endlessly honest about herself, but on the other hand, she's being honest about all the reasons she's wrong for the job in the first place. Whilst she's honest about herself, she appears to go off in flights of fantasy when she talks about her team.

Towards the end she says she hopes the second series of the Netflix documentary will show that they have made progress... Did she smoke something before this interview? TV shows can twist reality to an extent but it seems highly unlikely Netflix are going to fabricate progress when it's well documented that the exact opposite has happened.

As ever, I think she comes across very well as a person, she has her Dad's spirit. But as a TP or business woman? No. Several of the comments she made about business I found myself disagreeing with on a fairly fundamental level. At one point, she spoke about a £750k investment being needed to hopefully secure £20m of revenue from TV content. She said money was tight so it was a firm no. But that's simply not how business works - she's looking a 26 fold ROI, so if she believes the deal offered has at least a 1 in 20 chance of success, say yes!! You say yes to good odds by default, and eventually you win and the success of that one gamble runs for long enough to offset all the losses you made on the failed attempts. That's literally how investment works. Yet moments later, she was talking about a need at Williams to take a long term view with regard to investment.. She held her composure, and sounded professional - it just didn't make any sense.

One common theme - she has consistently got Williams in front of cameras, even if the spotlight is harsh. Documentaries, pieces like this, etc. That would seem to be all down to Claire, and well done to her for doing so.

That said, she is notable amongst TPs in talking about brand first. I feel as though she sees herself as the custodian of the Williams heritage, not the leader of the current team. Which tracks her experience. I can see why she got the role - she can talk a good talk - but it seems as if she hasn't necessarily fully embraced the change from comms/PR/marketing to TP.

Actually, we should recall that she is always DTP; it is always first and foremost Frank's team. I wonder if Claire would actually want the TP moniker? I feel as though the "right" person for the role would desperately want that title and role. Perhaps Paddy did?

As regards the £750k, I'm not so sure I agree with you. She's not presenting that as an investment story; she's in essence saying "if we had £750k then we could take a punt." And, given the audience, I think she was perhaps fishing for investment... as I said above, she's trying to sell hope.

I actually think Claire has rather cleverly found a position as the underdog; selling a story of heritage, pain, blood sweat and tears. My concern, however, is that perhaps at some level she's settled for the "plucky loser" position in a way one finds it hard to imagine Frank doing.

[mk1coopers]

What I can't understand is why (by now) there doesn't appear to have been at least one more chassis / floor structure made (even if it is a fundamentally flawed design) to replace the car that has the alleged performance difference, what happens if one of the drivers has an accident like Albon's in the next race, is that it?, will they just turn up with one car ?. Having watched F1 for a long time when it was Williams and McLaren leading the field it is sad to see the current situation, I do feel the family would be better off selling the current race team and keeping Williams Heritage and engineering, that way they could protect their past and allow some one else to create a competitive future.

[Piginapoke]

mk1coopers said:

What I can't understand is why (by now) there doesn't appear to have been at least one more chassis / floor structure made (even if it is a fundamentally flawed design) to replace the car that has the alleged performance difference, what happens if one of the drivers has an accident like Albon's in the next race, is that it?, will they just turn up with one car ?. Having watched F1 for a long time when it was Williams and McLaren leading the field it is sad to see the current situation, I do feel the family would be better off selling the current race team and keeping Williams Heritage and engineering, that way they could protect their past and allow some one else to create a competitive future.

That's a really interesting question. Does anyone know if they have taken a spare tub to the first 3 GPs?

[TheDeuce]

skwdenyer said:

One common theme - she has consistently got Williams in front of cameras, even if the spotlight is harsh. Documentaries, pieces like this, etc. That would seem to be all down to Claire, and well done to her for doing so.

That said, she is notable amongst TPs in talking about brand first. I feel as though she sees herself as the custodian of the Williams heritage, not the leader of the current team. Which tracks her experience. I can see why she got the role - she can talk a good talk - but it seems as if she hasn't necessarily fully embraced the change from comms/PR/marketing to TP.

Actually, we should recall that she is always DTP; it is always first and foremost Frank's team. I wonder if Claire would actually want the TP moniker? I feel as though the "right" person for the role would desperately want that title and role. Perhaps Paddy did?

She's marketeer for sure. Not a TP at heart. As for the DTP thing, to be in charge on a day to day basis (to overrule anything Claire might instruct that he disagrees with), he would need the job role of her direct superior. He does have control of the company, but that alone doesn't make her subordinate to him. He would have to go through the formality of going to the board each time he wanted to 'take control' without the title.

Not that I imagine she would be inclined to argue anyway - and on a day to day basis, she does appear the closest thing to a TP that they have.

skwdenyer said:

As regards the £750k, I'm not so sure I agree with you. She's not presenting that as an investment story; she's in essence saying "if we had £750k then we could take a punt." And, given the audience, I think she was perhaps fishing for investment... as I said above, she's trying to sell hope.

It just seemed a very odd point to make, so maybe she was fishing. As a 'gamble' it really does appear to be a fairly insignificant amount of money with a very good potential return, for a lady that manages a budget of £125m a year. Just caught me as an odd thing to bother saying at all, there didn't seem a point to the story other than to contradict her following point about investment in the future. In fairness, I have watched it again and I can see there was a cut between the two parts, so maybe we missed something that would help it make sense.

skwdenyer said:

I actually think Claire has rather cleverly found a position as the underdog; selling a story of heritage, pain, blood sweat and tears. My concern, however, is that perhaps at some level she's settled for the "plucky loser" position in a way one finds it hard to imagine Frank doing.

Maybe - I don't suppose there is a particularly good/right way of presenting the current mess she presides over. I do feel it get's a bit repetitive listening to her bang on about the past though, and that really a leader should be almost totally obsessed with the future, and hardly ever think about the past. As a Chef would say, you're only as good as your last service - so shut up about whatever awards you won a decade ago and think about what your serving tomorrow.

[TheDeuce]

Piginapoke said:

mk1coopers said:

What I can't understand is why (by now) there doesn't appear to have been at least one more chassis / floor structure made (even if it is a fundamentally flawed design) to replace the car that has the alleged performance difference, what happens if one of the drivers has an accident like Albon's in the next race, is that it?, will they just turn up with one car ?. Having watched F1 for a long time when it was Williams and McLaren leading the field it is sad to see the current situation, I do feel the family would be better off selling the current race team and keeping Williams Heritage and engineering, that way they could protect their past and allow some one else to create a competitive future.

That's a really interesting question. Does anyone know if they have taken a spare tub to the first 3 GPs?

I don't think they have a spare tub - although it could be that they do, and it's some other spare parts we keep hearing they don't have available. They're never specific, all we know is that there is something in short supply and that as a result, they have to nurse the car in various ways to preserve it.

It's all very odd. Replicating parts they have already designed isn't that costly overall, yet something is obviously holding them back from having the spares you would expect them to have.

[rdjohn]

TheDeuce said:

At one point, she spoke about a £750k investment being needed.

The £750k is probably needed to pay Frank’s and hubby’s salaries. That is how desperate they are.

Asking staff to be frugal when the managers are not is a hard message to sell.

[Fortitude]

skwdenyer said:

I actually think Claire has rather cleverly found a position as the underdog; selling a story of heritage, pain, blood sweat and tears. My concern, however, is that perhaps at some level she's settled for the "plucky loser" position in a way one finds it hard to imagine Frank doing.

TheDeuce said

Maybe - I don't suppose there is a particularly good/right way of presenting the current mess she presides over. I do feel it get's a bit repetitive listening to her bang on about the past though, and that really a leader should be almost totally obsessed with the future, and hardly ever think about the past. As a Chef would say, you're only as good as your last service - so shut up about whatever awards you won a decade ago and think about what your serving tomorrow.

My thoughts on it, FWIW…

In essence, selling and marketing the past and the heritage, MAYBE for the moment the only thing that Claire Williams can do. In some ways, IMHO, what we are hearing here, is Claire’s sales pitch to potential sponsors.

SO, note the mention by Claire that her Dad, Frank Williams, came from nothing to build a winning F1 team and so I, Claire Williams, the daughter of the founder, will build on this heritage, I am here to explain to you as potential sponsors, that we are going to come from the back of the Grid and become successful again. Eventually this will become another success story.

I am NOT mocking this, it is what I am trying envisage as part of Claire's sales pitch and strategy moving forwards. To remind people of the past, to explain we, Williams F1, will overcome again.

Edited by Fortitude on Friday 19th April 10:50

[rscott]

TheDeuce said:

I don't think they have a spare tub - although it could be that they do, and it's some other spare parts we keep hearing they don't have available. They're never specific, all we know is that there is something in short supply and that as a result, they have to nurse the car in various ways to preserve it.

It's all very odd. Replicating parts they have already designed isn't that costly overall, yet something is obviously holding them back from having the spares you would expect them to have.

I would have thought their most urgent task is to find out why the 2 parts perform so differently - if it's a manufacturing issue, then they need to identify it before making more with potentially the same fault.

[TheDeuce]

rscott said:

TheDeuce said:

I don't think they have a spare tub - although it could be that they do, and it's some other spare parts we keep hearing they don't have available. They're never specific, all we know is that there is something in short supply and that as a result, they have to nurse the car in various ways to preserve it.

It's all very odd. Replicating parts they have already designed isn't that costly overall, yet something is obviously holding them back from having the spares you would expect them to have.

I would have thought their most urgent task is to find out why the 2 parts perform so differently - if it's a manufacturing issue, then they need to identify it before making more with potentially the same fault.

Any other team would do both. That way they have spare parts for each race until the new and improved parts are ready. It's not the lost efficient use of money I know... But but it's F1 and teams normally don't like to risk being ill prepared for a race.

[shirt]

skwdenyer said:

One common theme - she has consistently got Williams in front of cameras, even if the spotlight is harsh. Documentaries, pieces like this, etc. That would seem to be all down to Claire, and well done to her for doing so.

That said, she is notable amongst TPs in talking about brand first. I feel as though she sees herself as the custodian of the Williams heritage, not the leader of the current team. Which tracks her experience. I can see why she got the role - she can talk a good talk - but it seems as if she hasn't necessarily fully embraced the change from comms/PR/marketing to TP.

Actually, we should recall that she is always DTP; it is always first and foremost Frank's team. I wonder if Claire would actually want the TP moniker? I feel as though the "right" person for the role would desperately want that title and role. Perhaps Paddy did?

As regards the £750k, I'm not so sure I agree with you. She's not presenting that as an investment story; she's in essence saying "if we had £750k then we could take a punt." And, given the audience, I think she was perhaps fishing for investment... as I said above, she's trying to sell hope.

I actually think Claire has rather cleverly found a position as the underdog; selling a story of heritage, pain, blood sweat and tears. My concern, however, is that perhaps at some level she's settled for the "plucky loser" position in a way one finds it hard to imagine Frank doing.

Agree with a lot of that.

I would add that everyone working for the f1 team will have grown up Motorsport’s enthusiasts, have excelled to be where they are now and will want to win. Ergo you have a team of high performing individuals with no strong leader who constantly self deprecates. This is not a tenable situation, the board of any company, let alone any front line sports team, would have binned her off by now. Sure, she could play a chairman type role, but not team principal.

[rallycross]

Do they really not have a spare tub?
Maybe CW thinks they can just ‘borrow’ from another team if one gets wrecked on a Friday ?!

[carinaman]

Comment by Donny Leong on an Autosport YouTube video 'Adrian and Harrison to Williams for 2021 with ownership/shares. Let's start the petition now'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6JEdcYnR9o

[Fundoreen]

New regs if as shown increase ground effect sound like something that will help Williams rather than hinder them further. Couple that with more equal revenue share and lower costs and they should be in better shape than at the moment.
Im sure they would have budgeted for the next 2 years so I doubt the wishes and dreams expressed
here to aid some russian billionare buyout will be met. And a good thing that will be.